Niflheim
Niflheim is one of the lower planes, where those followers of the Asgardian Pantheon who did not die with honor or were otherwise forgotten ended up. It is one of the few lower planes inhabited by many good and neutral aligned souls. Niflheim is a realm of darkness, cold and mist. It is lit by ghostly auroras and is subject to frequent blizzards. It is a bleak place of exile but not torment. The howling of winter wolves carries on the wind. Souls sent to Niflheim keep their physical bodies, as they were when they died. They can experience all the physical sensations they did when they were alive. If they 'die' again, Souls simply regenerate into that state again. Niflheim is also the primordial home of the Frost Giants, an ancient race that battled with the Asgardian pantheon for supremacy. It later became the prison of the evil deity of trickery Loki after he arranged for the death of Balder. Loki's three children: the epic level monsters Jormungander the World Serpent, Fenrir the great wolf and Hel, a goddess whose body is half a beautiful woman and half a rotten corpse, were also cast out of Asgard and into Niflheim. Geography: Niflheim is a vast continent with treacherous mountain ridges and expansive icy plateaus. It is surrounded by ice frozen over the river Styx. Hel can control which portions of this river remain frozen and which are solid, thus making it difficult to invade her territory or to leave it without her permission. Hel's palace is located in a valley at a mid-way point in the main mountain range and in its shadow lies a village of human souls under her protection. Hel provides them with some food, but they have also banded together as hunters to provide for their community. Beyond Hel's palace however, out in the wilderness of the realm, the laws of nature rule and icy monsters are known to attack those who cross their paths. Ragnarok: Fenrir and Jormundanger eventually joined Loki and the Frost Giants in attacking the material plane where they were met by the Asgardian Pantheon and their army of fallen mortal warriors from Valhalla. Fenrir devoured Odin but was destroyed by one of his half-divine half-mortal sons. Jormundanger bit and fatally poisoned Thor but Thor was able to destroy him before dropping dead. Loki and the god Heimdall slew each other but Loki released all of his power with his dying breath to plunge the world into a great ice age which it has only recently recovered from. The Frost Giants were scattered across the world and many of them retreated back to Niflheim. The gods and their warriors returned to Asgard to mourn their losses. Niflheim in modern times: Niflheim is ruled over by Hel , who did not join her evil kin in the battle of Ragnarok. She was cast out of Asgard because the other gods found her repulsive and because she was of Loki's blood. However, despite this fact, Hel was not born with an evil nature and wept for Balder when he was killed. She did not weep for her brothers and father because of the needless deaths they caused. Still, Hel is hated and feared by the rest of the Asgardian Pantheon who see her as Loki's potential heir. Hel is neutral evil only because she has been so hated by others that her heart has hardened. That, and the fact that she is worshiped by those who seek vengeance against murderers and that she is utterly merciless in claiming it. She is somewhat callous to the concerns of the living otherwise and focuses on caring for those dead who have been sent to Niflheim, trying to help them scrape a meager existence from the harsh realm. Hel believes that some of the souls sent to her have become more honorable in death than in life, working together to provide for their communities, and wishes those souls could redeem themselves and enter Valhalla. Similarly, although Hel resents the rest of her pantheon, she on some level longs to be accepted by them. Hel allows the frost giants to remain in Niflheim and live as they please so long as they do not harm innocent souls. There is a sect among the frost giants who worship Hel and believe that she will one day finish what Loki started by destroying the rest of the Pantheon. Hel has explicitly stated that she has no desire for another war but that if the Asgardians attacked she would destroy them. This sect is secretly spreading rumors of Hel's "evil" machinations and trying to incite the Asgardians to attack. At the same time, they are focusing on gathering their strength once more on the material plane. Although nearly rendered extinct, the frost giants thrived during the ice age and their populations have since significantly recovered.